Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (WTW Quick QuoteWTW - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.63 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.60 by 0.8%. The bottom line increased 18% year over year.

Revenues rose 8% to $2.46 billion but missed the consensus estimate of $2.47 billion by 0.4%. Organic revenues grew 4%, supported by growth across both operating segments. Adjusted operating margin expanded 150 basis points, reflecting improved operating leverage and disciplined expense management.

WTW's Revenue Growth Benefits From Organic Gains

Reported revenues increased from $2.29 billion in the prior-year quarter. Excluding foreign-currency movements, revenues advanced 8%. Acquisitions and divestitures contributed 4 percentage points to the quarterly revenue change.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 12% year over year to $577 million. The related margin expanded 100 basis points to 23.5%, reflecting improved underlying profitability. Book-of-business settlements totaled $20 million compared with $6 million a year earlier, while interest income declined to $35 million from $42 million.

Willis Towers Expands HWC Profitability

Health, Wealth & Career revenues increased 7% year over year to $1.35 billion. Revenues rose 7% on a constant-currency basis and 4% organically. Health delivered organic growth across all regions, supported by new business and strong renewals. Wealth benefited from retirement-related activity outside North America and new client wins.

Career recorded organic revenue growth, driven by higher compensation survey sales, normalized survey delivery timing and increased communications project work. Benefits Delivery & Outsourcing revenues declined organically as lower Individual Marketplace commissions outweighed gains from outsourcing activity.

The segment's operating income increased 10% year over year to $398 million. Operating margin expanded 90 basis points to 29.5%, benefiting from improved operating leverage and expense discipline.

WTW's Risk & Broking Segment Maintains Growth

Risk & Broking revenues advanced 8% year over year to $1.09 billion. Constant-currency revenues increased 8%, while organic growth reached 5%, outperforming the Health, Wealth & Career segment.

Corporate Risk & Broking benefited from strong new business activity in North America and International, alongside higher book-of-business settlements. These gains were partly offset by a challenging prior-year comparison involving multi-year specialty placements. Insurance Consulting and Technology recorded organic growth, primarily supported by strong software sales despite lower consulting revenues.

Segment operating income climbed 14% year over year to $216 million. Operating margin improved 100 basis points to 19.8%, reflecting higher settlement activity and disciplined expense management.

Willis Towers Balances Costs and Margin Gains

Adjusted operating income increased 15% year over year to $539 million. Adjusted operating margin expanded to 21.9% from 20.4%, indicating that underlying profit growth outpaced revenue growth.

Total costs of providing services increased 8.6% year over year to $2.03 billion. Salaries and benefits rose to $1.51 billion from $1.41 billion. Transaction and program expenses increased to $42 million from $2 million, while restructuring costs totaled $14 million.

Reported income from operations increased 3% to $429 million, although operating margin contracted 90 basis points to 17.4%. Net income rose 1% to $309 million, while diluted GAAP earnings increased 4% to $3.24 per share.

WTW Strengthens Cash Flow and Capital Returns

Operating cash flow totaled $1.21 billion during the first nine months of 2026, up from $1 billion in the prior-year period. Free cash flow increased 27% year over year to $1.06 billion, primarily driven by operating margin expansion.

WTW repurchased 687,386 shares for $220 million during the third quarter. Share repurchases totaled $970 million during the first nine months.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $1.95 billion as of Sept. 30, 2026, down from $3.13 billion at 2025-end. Long-term debt was $5.78 billion compared with $5.76 billion at year-end 2025.

Willis Towers Advances Propel AI Initiative

WTW's Propel initiative aims to accelerate artificial intelligence adoption and automation across operations through 2028. The company expects to invest approximately $625 million in cash and incur $25 million in non-cash charges.

Propel is expected to generate approximately $400 million in annual run-rate savings. After reinvesting $50 million to support growth, Willis Towers targets $350 million in net run-rate savings and an adjusted operating margin of approximately 30% in 2028. Annualized savings achieved through September totaled $18 million.

WTW Provides 2026 Financial Outlook

WTW expects mid-single-digit enterprise organic revenue growth in 2026. Health, Wealth & Career organic growth is projected in the low-to-mid-single-digit range, while Risk & Broking is expected to deliver mid-single-digit growth.

Willis Towers anticipates continued enterprise-level adjusted operating margin expansion. The Newfront acquisition is expected to generate approximately $250 million in post-close revenues at an adjusted EBITDA margin of 26%, while diluting adjusted earnings by approximately 10 cents per share.

The company expects share repurchases exceeding $1 billion, subject to market conditions and investment opportunities. Management also anticipates continued improvement in free cash flow margin, supported by operating margin expansion and an evolving business mix.

Zacks Rank

Willis Towers Watson currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Insurers

Brown & Brown, Inc.’s (BRO Quick QuoteBRO - Free Report) third-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $1.07 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.9%. The bottom line increased 1.9% year over year. Revenues of $1.72 billion missed the consensus mark by 2.3% but increased 7.4% year over year on a reported basis. Acquisition activity supported the top line, while organic revenues increased 1.2%. Weakness in Specialty Distribution and margin pressure weighed on performance.

Commissions and fees increased 9.7% year over year to $1.70 billion, while investment and other income declined 55.4% to $25 million from $56 million. Adjusted EBITDAC margin contracted 200 basis points (bps) to 34.6%. Adjusted EBITDAC increased 1.7% to $597 million, while adjusted income before taxes rose 1.3% to $479 million.

Chubb Limited (CB Quick QuoteCB - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2026 core operating earnings of $7.66 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.53 by 17.3%. The bottom line increased 0.8% year over year. Revenues of $16.81 billion surpassed the consensus mark of $16.72 billion by 0.55%.

Consolidated net premiums earned rose 3.9% year over year to $14.92 billion. P&C underwriting income declined 8.8% year over year to $2.06 billion. The combined ratio deteriorated 230 basis points to 84.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at 87.

W.R. Berkley Corporation (WRB Quick QuoteWRB - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2026 operating income of $1.17 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.63%. The bottom line increased 6.4% year over year. Operating revenues of $3.76 billion rose 1.8% year over year but missed the consensus estimate by 1.19%. Net premiums earned jumped 1.8% year over year. W.R. Berkley’s net premiums written increased 1.3% year over year to $3.27 billion.

Net investment income grew 9.2% year over year to $383.5 million, supported by higher income from the core investment portfolio. Income from fixed-maturity securities increased 10.3%, while the core portfolio contributed $369.1 million, up 12% year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at $398.2 million. Our estimate was pegged at $384.3 billion.